Two Way Street
by Gold-On-The-Ceiling-42
Summary: Chicago, Illinois, a family of four tourists vanishes and reappears 1 week later, scattered across the country. The catch? Their last name is Winchester. Sam, Dean, and newly resurrected Adam Milligan race to check it out. The sequel to "One Way Ticket."
1. Living Legends

**A/N**

 **Hey guys! Thanks so much for reading! Ok so here's the deal. This a sequel to a story published about 9 months ago called "One Way Ticket" that interrupts season 10 episode 3 with Adam's unexpected return. Since a lot of things get resolved in that story, here's how everything is now: Charlie never died, Hannah never left her vessel, the darkness was never unleashed, but Cas did get his grace back, the book of the damned was found, Rowena exists, and all the other hunts they went on in season 10 happened. The story picks up in early October, 2015. Be sure to read the first story if you haven't, and as always, review, check out my other stories, and enjoy!**

Ch. 1

Living Legends

Let's recap. Adam woke up in October, 2014, in a field called Stull Cemetery. He stole a car (which turned out to be Cas') and hightailed it to the bunker to kill the Deanmon. Why? Because Crowley said so. Hijinks ensued, identities were revealed, intentions were shed light on, Dean became human, Adam became decidedly less crazy, Sam, well... he was a little freaked out. Then Adam was apparently the harbinger for the second apocalypse (poor guy), but because the Winchesters have the luck of the devil (and then some), said crisis was diverted with the help of Jody, her adoptive daughter Alex, Garth, Chuck, Hannah, Cas, and yes, even Crowley. The mark of Cain was transferred to Michael, safely in the cage, instead of, say, sticking around to screw up the Winchester's lives and force them to use the Book of the Damned in desperation, unleash an ethereal darkness upon the world, and kill Charlie in the process. No, that would be crazy.

It had been a crazy year for Adam, not just getting resurrected and getting rid of the mark, but everything that had happened afterwards. After rigorously training him, Sam and Dean had finally taken him on some hunts, and boy, those had been intense. Dean had been turned into a fourteen-year-old boy, Metatron had made a reappearance and restored Cas' grace, they found some girl named Claire who apparently knew Cas, there had been the Clue mystery murders, those had been fun, and apparently Crowley had a mother, which was weird. Let's also not forget the Frankensteins! It had taken some serious manpower to take down those guys. See, they had found the Book of the Damned, purely by accident- Adam could still remember the look on Dean's face when Sam had almost died getting the codex- but they never used it. They didn't need to.

Adam had kept in touch with Alex, though she had insisted they were just friends, and Adam had no problem with that. She even got him to listen to her favorite band, The Black Keys. They were all right, though Adam kept flashing back to that awful car ride with Sam on the way to Stull Cemetery.

Now, though, Adam was in the bunker's shooting range, Desert Eagle aimed at a target while Dean watched.

"If you hit the bull's eye, I make dinner and you get to come with Sam and I on the hunt tomorrow." Dean said mischievously.

It was good motivation. For one thing, Dean was an amazing cook. But also, despite the fact that Adam was 20, 25, or 625 depending on how you counted, Sam and Dean still had qualms on taking him on hunts. So before each hunt, they would make him prove himself. And every single time, he nailed it.

Adam raised the gun and fired 5 shots in succession. Every single one was a bull's eye.

Dean whistled. Adam shot him a grin as he clicked the safety on, removed the cartridge, and tossed his brother the gun. "You're making burgers." he said gleefully, brushing past an astonished Dean.

Dean scoffed. "Whatever. I could totally do that too..." but Adam was already gone and in the library.

"Alright, Sam!" Adam shouted at his other brother, who was typing away at his computer. "Tell me about this case."

Sam looked up from his computer with a furrowed brow. "You shot a bull's eye?" he asked incredulously.

"He shot five." Dean grumbled from behind Adam, beginning to make his way to the kitchen. "I'm beginning to think we should have his prerequisites be archery or something. Apparently, I'm making burgers. Do Cas and Hannah want any?"

Sam chuckled in amusement. "Yeah, they should be here in a few minutes. Make extra just in case."

"Alright." Dean said, before vanishing into the kitchen, mumbling something about Famine and White Castle.

"So." Adam said, sliding down into the seat next to Sam on the long, brown table. "The case."

"Right!" Sam said, attention back on his computer. "So get this. Chicago, Illinois, four tourists disappear. They were supposed to turn up for a river tour with some friends and they never showed, weren't able to be reached." He brought up a news article from the Chicago Sun Times. "But that's not the weird part. Each of them turn up 1 week later, scattered across the country."

"Hm." Adam mused. "It could be a witch, demon or angel? Maybe separating a group of people across the country they see as a threat."

"See, that's what I thought at first!' Sam said excitedly, and Adam could just see the gears in his brain turning madly. "But the locations weren't random! One turned up at the headstone of his ex girlfriend, another in the cemetery where her mother was buried. They all turned up at the graves of people important to them, with no recollection of the past week, seemingly out of thin air. But that isn't the weirdest part."

"Really?" Adam asked incredulously, head swimming with all of the new information.. "What could be weirder?"

Sam looked grim. "There were five tourists originally. The last one just vanished. It's been two weeks since the others re-appeared, and no one has heard from him."

"This guy got a name?" Adam asked, leaning forward with intrigue.

"Yeah." Sam said with an unreadable look. "Adam Milligan."

Adam ricocheted back from the table. "But that's-"

"Yeah." Sam said with a ticked off expression, closing his laptop in frustration. "I know. Wanna know the names of the other four victims?"

"Not really." Dean said with a stern expression, having emerged from the kitchen with a sour look.

Sam scoffed, and quoted the article from memory. "'Unexplained tragedy strikes when Winchester family disappears. John Winchester, 66, was on his way with his wife and three adult sons to meet up with another family by the Chicago river when suddenly he was swept up by a breeze unfamiliar to the Windy City. A week later, he stumbled out of a graveyard in Normal, Illinois, dazed and confused. His wife, Mary, was found in Stull Cemetery, in her hometown of Lawrence, Kansas, while his sons Sam and Dean were found in Palo Alto, California, and Pontiac, Illinois, respectively. All four family members were badly shaken both by the strange occurrence and their unexpected memory loss of the week before their return. The real tragedy, however, is the continued disappearance of twenty-year-old Adam Milligan, Sam and Dean's younger half-brother. As of now, the hunt is still on for the truth behind the incident, and the missing boy.'"

Adam and Dean stared at Sam with stupefied horror. Dean's eyes welled with hurt, and Adam could not imagine the pain he was going through at the mention of his dead family.

"This was in the Chicago Sun Times?" Dean asked with a slightly husky voice. Sam nodded mutely. "Well... what the hell? What the hell, Sammy?"

"I don't know." Sam replied, equally spooked.

"This can't be real." Adam said, re-opening Sam's laptop to look at the online article.

"Article's legit." Sam said stiffly. "Published in yesterday's paper."

"That wasn't what I meant." Adam said, squinting at the computer. "The names alone could be a coincidence, yeah, but when is it ever a coincidence? Major newspapers don't just broadcast the supernatural."

"So what, then?" Dean asked, teeth grit, staring at the article with a special kind of hatred.

"You and Sam were FBI most wanted and made national news multiple times. Digging up your names and your parents' histories would be easy. But me? I'm a nobody. And nobody knows we're related."

"It wouldn't be too hard to figure out." Dean said. "It probably says something on your birth certificate."

"Yeah, but even so," Adam squinted at the article. "It says how old John and Mary would have been now. It says Sam is 32 and Dean is 36. Again, how old you are now."

"Dude, you're getting old." Sam said to Dean.

"Shut up." Dean said with a grimace. He looked at Adam. "Go on?"

"So, it says that I'm 20." Adam said triumphantly. "But anyone who does their research knows that I was born on September 29th, 1990. I'm 25, as of 1 week ago-"

"-happy birthday, by the way-" Dean grumbled.

"-and only a select few know that I was in hell for five years."

"So this article was written by someone who knows." Sam said, getting _that_ look on his face. The one that suggests researching is fun. "It isn't an article at all. It's a message."

"What, to us?" Dean said incredulously. "Saying what? 'Hey, I know everything about you and your perpetually mortuous family, wanna come hang with me in Chicago?'"

"Well, yeah." Sam said with a shrug. "Except it's not for us. It's for him." He pointed at Adam. "It was his info that was 'wrong' in the article."

"Yeah, but it was also him that disappeared without a trace." Dean said. "What if this message is a little on the ominous side."

"Scroll up." Adam muttered at Sam. Then he took a harsh double take. "That's a chance we'll have to take." he said sternly. "We need to check this out. I made the bulls-eye's, Dean. I'm on the case. Get the guns and the salt. We'll leave in one hour." He turned away from Sam's laptop and made to storm to his room, but Dean stopped him by placing a hand on his shoulder.

"You wanna tell me what's so important that you're so anxious to leave?" Dean asked Adam with thinly veiled concern.

Adam stared Dean down. "The author of the article." Then he moved around Dean's arm and stormed out.

"What the hell was that all about?" Dean asked with an exasperated look at Sam.

"I told you this case was weird." Sam said defensively.

"Well yeah, but maybe you could have briefed me before you lit a fuse under our reckless brother who's still a freaking novice!"

"Dean, it was his name in the article." Sam chastised. "He's got as much a right to check this out as us. Probably more, considering his reaction to the author."

"Who is it?" Dean asked curiously. "Chuck Shurley? Carver Edlund? Am I getting warmer?"

"Kate Taylor." Sam said.

Dean squinted at Sam, then looked to the left and right of the bunker, confused. "Is that supposed to mean something."

"Maybe." Sam said sardonically. "You mentioned Adam's birth certificate? Well I pulled it up the moment I read the article. Father, Unknown. Mother, Kate Taylor Milligan."

"Crap." Dean said.

"Yeah." Sam said in agreement.

" _Crap._ "

"Yeah, Dean, I know. This is shady as hell. Adam's right, whoever wrote this knows way too much to be ignored."

"We need a plan." Dean said, staring at the table with a heavy intensity, as if willing it to give him answers.

"I think we have one, Dean." Sam said with a barely concealed smirk. "'Get the guns and the salt. We'll leave in one hour.'"

Dean stared mutely at Sam before his shoulders slumped in the realization that he would take orders from Adam. "Jeez, the kid's here for one year, and already, he's calling the shots." he grumbled.

"Relax," Sam said with a laugh. "He won't be driving." He stood up, closed his laptop, and patted Dean on the shoulder affectionately before leaving to go pack his things. "I will be."

"Oh, hell no!" Dean shouted after him, before barrelling down the hall to get packed, fully prepared to race Sam to the Impala.

Let's recap. Chicago is a big city. Weird stuff happens there all the time. Like Wacker drive going in four different directions. Or a demon named Meg taking over a city block with the Daeva, you know, things like that. (I think we all want to ignore the mob monster plotline.) You might also recall that it was in dear old Chi-town where Death, the horseman, was introduced. The boys have a history with Chicago. But they also have a history with the unpleasant. And it's been established that the Mark was transferred to Michael, saving Dean from months of agony, Death from death, and the world from the mysterious force of the darkness. And yet, these are the Winchesters. So even as they hit the road, knowing they were heading into something unknown and strange, they were satisfied with the knowledge that it could have been so much worse.

And yet, these things seem to happen anyway.


	2. Meet Me In St Louis

**A/N**

 **Hey guys! Thanks so much for reading! Okay, so this chapter might be kind of sad, though I tried to lighten it up a bit. Just a fair warning. Also, just to clarify, this is technically set in season 11, and Rowena exists but she did not put the attack dog spell on Cas. As always, review, check out my other stories, and enjoy!**

Ch. 2

Meet Me in St. Louis

One hour later, they were on the highway.

Two hours later, they were in Topeka. That shouldn't have been possible, but Dean was being very generous with the speed limit, driving with white knuckles and dead-set eyes. Sam, next to him, was eyeing him warily in between glancing down at his notes and scoffing at the rock music blaring. Adam was in the back seat, leaning forward so that his shoulders were practically on top of the front seat, staring at a printed out copy of the article. When "Highway to Hell" played for the 17th time, he barely registered it. He hadn't even heard it play the first time, he was so focused.

"Hey, we're going to be near Lawrence soon, right?" Adam said rather suddenly, having to shout to be heard over the music. Sam and Dean jumped at randomly hearing his voice in what had previously been an entirely silent two-hour car ride.

"Yeah." Dean said after clearing his throat, his voice scratchy from disuse. He turned down the radio slightly, and Sam rolled his eyes in relief. "Yeah, it's about 30 minutes away. Why do you want to know?" Dean said while shooting Sam an unappreciated look.

"The locations." Adam said cryptically. "We're supposed to meet this person in Chicago, right? But that's not the only place in the article. The other locations have to mean something, too."

"What locations?" Dean asked, confused.

"The places where the family members, where 'we' turned up." Sam said patiently, wincing as he switched pronouns. "Adam's right. Everything in this article was significant. Lawrence is nearby, and two others are on the way to Chicago. It's worth checking out."

"These locations where each family member was found, they were all graveyards?" Dean asked.

"Yes." Adam said.

"Ok so the first one. Lawrence, Kansas. Stull Cemetery. I mean the significance there is kind of obvious. Who was found there?"

"Mary." Adam said at the same time Sam said "Mom." The two shared an awkward glance.

"She was found at Deanna's grave." Sam said. "Our grandmother." he said to Adam.

"What about Samuel?" Dean asked.

Sam shook his head. "Just Deanna's. I guess whoever wrote that article knows that Samuel got resurrected."

Dean shivered, unsettled. "Omniscience, man. They always freak me out. Alright, the next one is Normal, right? Normal, Illinois?"

"Yep." Sam said, popping the 'p' sound. "John Winchester."

Adam winced slightly. "What's so special about there?" he asked. "I mean, it's literally called 'normal.'"

"That's where Dad was born." Dean said, and his hands seemed to tighten a little more around the steering wheel. "And uncoincidentally, where the Men of Letters were based, the ones who built the bunker. So who's grave was he found at?"

"Both of his parents'. Henry and Mildred Winchester." Adam said. It was weird to think of two disembodied names as his supposed grandparents. And it was sad to think that the only reason his brothers could put faces to the names was because of time travel.

"It makes sense." Sam said. "We did bury Henry in that cemetery, even if it was 50 years after he disappeared."

"Palo Alto, California." Dean said. "Significance: Azazel's attack. The death goes without saying. And that's where you popped up, Sammy."

Sam, for once, was silent, looking downward with an odd revernance.

"Which leaves Pontiac, Illinois." Dean said. "Where I was found. Who died there?"

Sam jerked upright, and turned around and shot Adam an alarmed look.

"You did." They said in unison.

"That's where you were buried and resurrected." Sam continued. "Where Cas found his vessel."

"Speaking of which, he and Hannah are going to be at the bunker soon, and they might freak out if we're not there." Adam said.

"I would not worry about that." A voice said to Adam's left.

Adam jumped out of his skin as suddenly he was surrounded by angels, Cas to his right and Hannah to his left, the three kind of squished in the Impala's backseat.

"What the hell?" Adam exclaimed. "Every time!"

"Sam, Dean, good to see you." Cas said, ignoring Adam's put out expression. "Though I wish it weren't under such strange circumstances."

"Yeah, you're preaching to the choir." Dean grumbled, unfazed by the angles' sudden appearance. "What do you know about this? Anything?"

"No I'm afraid not." Cas said sadly. "Though I do recommend proceeding with extreme caution. There are few people who know the truth behind you and your family. It should be kept that way."

"I think you are right to investigate other locations." Hannah chimed in. "Particularly ones of such significance. Castiel and I could travel to California to assist you."

"Sure, that'd be great." Sam said, looking relieved, and Adam wondered if Sam had ever been back to Palo Alto since Jessica's death.

"Very well." Hannah said, and she and Castiel were gone. Adam relaxed in relief. Being squished between two ancient supernatural beings in the backseat of a car was not exactly fun.

The road they took to Lawrence was very familiar to Adam. Through his mind's eye, he saw how it looked a year before. They passed a street where Cas' car had been parked. They passed a street that Adam had traversed on foot, half dazed in his first sunlight in 5 years. Eventually, though, they reached their destination. The wrought iron gates were black and spindly, but nowhere near intimidating to the Winchesters. They knew there were worse things to fear than the resting dead.

Dean parked the car right outside the closed gates, and together, Sam, Dean, and Adam left the sanctuary of the car and approached the cemetery with trepidation.

"Ready?" Dean asked his brothers. "We're not sure what we'll find, or if there's anything to find at all."

"We're ready." Adam said. Sam nodded.

"Okay." Dean said. He opened the gate with a _creak!,_ and the three stepped inside, looking around the cemetery with careful eyes. As they walked around, all three avoided the almost perfect circle where several graves used to stand.

"Over there!" Sam exclaimed, pointing to a plot labeled 'Campbell.' Adam and Dean followed him in earnest, and then the three stood over two forty-year-old graves.

"'Here lies Samuel Eugene Campbell, 1930-1972.'" Dean quoted as he read the slightly larger headstone. "Guess they didn't inscribe how he was a dick to his grandsons."

Sam shot him a bitchface.

"'Here lies Deanna Michelle Campbell, née Williams.'" Adam read. "'1933-1972.'"

Sam and Dean were silent for a moment, heads bowed for the grandparents that had been met under the oddest circumstances.

"You would've liked Deanna." Dean said to Sam. "She was tough. She went down swinging."

"Well you are named after her." Sam said with a sad smile. "I guess I got lucky. Eugene would have been a terrible middle name."

"What are you talking about?" Adam asked in confusion.

"Dean's full name is Dean Michael Winchester." Sam said with a teasing smile.

Adam cracked a grin. "As in-"

"As in Deanna Michelle." Sam said.

"Well what's yours?" Adam asked.

Sam's grin slipped slightly. "Samuel Henry."

"Oh." Adam said.

Dean cleared his throat. "Mom was found here." he said, stumbling over the words. "So look for something- anything- out of place." Sam, Dean, and Adam scoured the surface Deanna's grave, ignoring all previous respect for the dead. Then Adam noticed something glimmering from the ground.

"Look!" he said, holding a metallic object in the afternoon sunlight. It caught the light, and Sam and Dean gasped.

"Is that-"

"No way-"

"What?" Adam asked, as he held the object out in the palm of his hand. It was a ring, a simple gold band, big enough to fit a grown man. Adam winced slightly as he held it in his hand. It almost seemed to burn. "What is it."

'It's a ring." Sam said, astonished, stepping forward and grasping Adam's hand and raising it so he could get a better look at the object.

"No duh." Adam said. "One of you planning on proposing?" He shot a pointed look at Dean.

Dean cleared his throat, his ears turning red. "No, jackass." he said. "It's not just any old ring. It's War's ring."

"War?" Adam asked quizzically. "As in 'what is it good for', War?"

"The horseman, War." Sam clarified. "But Dean, I thought you hid all the rings."

"I did." Dean said, snatching the ring from Adam's hand, and turning it over in his hands as he examined it. "This isn't supposed to be here. I planted it in River Pass, Colorado."

"Isn't that-" Sam began.

"Yeah, it's a little obvious, but I wasn't in the best emotional state at the time." Dean said. "But no one knew where it was. Not even Cas. So how did someone dig it up and put it at the grave of our grandmother?"

"A better question would be why." Adam pointed out.

"A better question would be 'what the hell?'" Dean exclaimed. "But trust me, that's been answered enough!"

Sam and Adam were silent for a moment as Dean stewed, one hand clutching the ring, the other running through his hair as he stared at his deceased grandparents, possibly picturing the scene described in the article of Mary being found there. Finally, Sam cleared his throat.

"Dean, we need to get going." he said. "We've got a long way to Chicago."

"Yeah." Dean muttered. "Yeah, okay." With one last tortured look at the graves, he turned and followed Sam and Adam out of the cemetery, once more making a wide berth around a mysterious circle where all the graves were gone and the plants had died.

Dean didn't play any rock music as they drove away from his hometown. Instead, the three brothers sat in silence as a myriad of emotions washed over them. Sam and Dean, Adam guessed, were grieving. After all, they had just visited their grandparent's graves, and their parents were probably buried there too. Adam, though, felt kind of empty. They weren't _his_ grandparents, or his parents, really. He wasn't even related to Mary, nor had he met any of them. He had nothing to grieve for. Stull Cemetery didn't scare Adam anymore, not after the transfer of the Mark, but Adam felt a special kind of unsettled as they drove away. He turned War's ring over in his hands, having received it from Dean. Once again, he could feel the power surging through it, and wondered how he ever could have mistaken it for a regular wedding band. And suddenly, Adam felt a curious need to put it on.

 _No._ Adam chided himself. _That would be bad. Don't wear the weird mystical object you know nothing about. Have you learned nothing?_ Apparently so.

"Adam, you okay back there?" Sam said, jarring Adam from his thoughts. Adam jumped and looked at the clock on the dashboard, horrified to find that he had been staring at the ring for close to an hour.

"Yeah, I'm good." he said.

Sam shot him a look like he didn't quite believe him, but didn't pursue the topic. "I was just telling Dean that we're in Missouri, now, and that we should stop for gas in St. Louis before heading up to Normal."

"Okay." Adam mumbled. _Adios, Kansas._

Thirty minutes later, Sam and Adam were leaning against the car at a gas station in downtown St. Louis, while Dean filled it up.

"Hey Adam, I know this is all kind of weird." Sam said as he stared at the silver arch in the distance. "What with the horseman rings and all. But I want you to know-"

"-It's all right, Sam." Adam interrupted, rather bitterly. "I understand. You didn't want me to come on this case, and now I see why. It's a family thing."

"No, that's not what I meant-" Sam began, looking hurt, but he was interrupted again, this time by Dean coming over.

"Everything okay over here?" Dean asked. Adam nodded vigorously. "Okay, well I say it's high time we called Cas. He's probably done searching Palo Alto by now."

"Yeah, okay." Sam said, gesturing for Dean to start praying, which he did, closing his eyes and mumbling. "I have a feeling this may be a little out of our league, anyway."

"Your league is better than you realize." A voice said to Adam's right, and he once again found himself sandwiched in between Cas and Hannah.

"Son of a BITCH!" Adam exclaimed as his hammering heart began to slow down. "Don't DO that!"

"Heya Cas." Dean said through a smirk while Sam was bent over in laughter. "How was Cali?"

"Dry." Cas said, well, dryly. "And unfruitful, I'm afraid. Sam, your girlfriend's grave is by no means suspicious, though you will be very happy to know that several flowers are beginning to grow there."

"Uh, thanks, Cas." Sam said, sounding like he wasn't happy to know that at all.

"Have you found anything at the site of the prizefight?" Hannah asked inquisitively, tilting her head to the side as she analyzed the brothers.

"Um, yeah, actually." Dean said. "Adam, you want to show 'em?" Reluctantly, Adam opened his palm and showed the plain gold ring glimmering there.

Cas and Hannah analyzed it in amazement. "But that's impossible." Cas said. "Dean, you told me you buried it in an 'undisclosed location.'" Sam smiled at the correct use of air quotes. "How did it end up in Lawrence?"

"Get in line, Cas, cause we got no fricking clue." Dean said resentfully. "Just that our next stop is Normal, Illinois, and I've got a feeling we'll find another ring, too."

"Is there anything we can do, Dean?" Hannah asked with a kind smile.

"I don't think so." Dean said. "I mean, Rowena's still missing and Crowley's off doing whatever, but I think for once the world isn't broken. We should try to keep it that way."

The five were silent for a moment as they stared at the St. Louis arch.

"You know, I've been in there, once." Adam said. "Mom and I came down here on vacation."

"Us, too." Sam said with a small smile. "1990. Of course, that was before the shapeshifter."

"That was before a lot of things." Dean said disgruntledly. He shot the arch a sour look. "Let's go."

"Let me know if you find anything." Cas said as he watched the WInchesters get in the car with worried eyes.

"Yeah, yeah." Dean said, slamming the door just as Cas and Hannah vanished.

One hour later they were in Illinois, and this time, ACDC was blasting at full volume.


End file.
